Different types of acoustic devices have been used through the years. One type of device is a microphone and one type of microphone is a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microphone. A MEMS microphone includes a MEMS die having at least one diaphragm and at least one back plate. The MEMS die is sometimes disposed on a substrate or base, and enclosed by a housing (e.g., a cup or cover with walls). A port may extend through the substrate (for a bottom port device) or through the top of the housing (for a top port device). In any case, sound energy traverses through the port, moves the diaphragm and creates a changing potential of the back plate, which creates an electrical signal. The electrical signal can be further processed by devices such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
Microphones are mounted or disposed in various types of devices such as personal computers, tablets, and hearing aids to mention a few examples. As mentioned, a port is disposed in the microphone, often times through the base. Another second port is present in the device in which the microphone is disposed and this other port allows sound to pass through the second port to the microphone inside the device.
However, this placement of the microphone port is sometimes inconvenient with respect to the configuration of the device in which the microphone is located. For example, the microphone port at the base may not align with the second port or opening in the customer device. This misalignment sometimes requires the design of the device to be adjusted or modified, which increases the overall cost and complexity of the resultant system. These problems have resulted in some user dissatisfaction with previous approaches.
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